CV NEWS FEED // Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has halted an attempt by the Biden Administration’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to interfere with Texas child support programs.
Paxton’s office announced in a June 4 press release that the AG ended a lawsuit filed in May 2023 against the IRS after the agency “walked back” its previous plan to interfere with the operations of nationwide child support programs.
“Compliance with this unlawful directive would have crippled the Texas child support program’s operations,” Paxton’s office stated.
The IRS had issued an enforcement announcement of a policy change in February 2023 that would have mandated the termination of information access for child support enforcement agencies (CSEAs) across the country.
At the time, the AG’s office described the policy shift as an “abrupt” departure from the previously held position of the IRS, which had vetted contractor services for decades. Paxton’s office further alleged that the decision would have resulted in the loss of “at least $300 million annually in child support collections for Texas families.”
In the release, Paxton’s office noted that the state submitted a plan after filing the lawsuit, “demonstrating that upgrades to the system that had already been underway for some time would significantly address the IRS’s concerns.”
“Because we intervened early, Texas’s child support program will not be derailed by the Biden Administration’s unlawful agency action,” Paxton stated in the release, adding: “We reached a positive outcome, but I will not hesitate to resume this litigation if the IRS policy changes put Texas children at risk again.”
